


waiting for a sign

by ShowMeAHero



Series: guiding light [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon Disabled Character, Confessions, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Love Confessions, M/M, Prosthesis, Relationship Advice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:41:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22321981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: “Have you seen Mom anywhere?” Luke asks, leaning in his father’s office doorway.“No, why?” Anakin replies, head bowed over his work. Luke sighs, blowing up harshly to displace the hair falling across his forehead.“I need advice and Leia’s in an exam,” Luke says. He pushes off the doorway and says, “Never mind, I’ll just—”“I can help you,” Anakin tells him.
Relationships: Luke Skywalker/Han Solo, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, past Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker
Series: guiding light [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1612993
Comments: 27
Kudos: 669





	waiting for a sign

**Author's Note:**

> I don't usually post warm-ups, but I wrote this before working on c*mmission stuff today and it warmed my heart so I'm posting it.
> 
> Title taken from ["Drive"](https://open.spotify.com/track/3ek4HgBlmvkTWgfT5sTSe9?si=ms8tpnuBSuKeYSPq-DgZfA) by Halsey.

Luke suffers from what his mother calls _ kindness _ and  _ innocence _ and what his sister calls  _ naïveté _ and  _ a terminal lack of common sense.  _ Regardless, he’s glad he has them in his life, because Padme and Leia can pretty much solve any problem between the two of them. Luke’s never entirely sure what to do on his own. He’s lucky to have them.

Tragically, this  _ also  _ means that when neither of them is accessible, Luke has a difficult time making decisions. He’ll usually end up paralyzed by indecision and insecurity; in the end, he’ll end up doing nothing at all, because the status quo is usually just easier.

“Have you seen Mom anywhere?” Luke asks, leaning in his father’s office doorway. He’s still living at home while he goes to the state college the next town over; Leia, however, has been attending Harvard for the last three years and only gets to come home on vacations and occasional weekend breaks. She’ll be a killer lawyer and an even better politician, someday, just like their mom, Luke knows that much. He’s never been smart like them, though.

“No, why?” Anakin replies, head bowed over his work. Luke sighs, blowing up harshly to displace the hair falling across his forehead.

“I need advice and Leia’s in an exam,” Luke says. He pushes off the doorway and says, “Never mind, I’ll just—”

“I can help you,” Anakin tells him. Luke stops in the doorway, waiting, but Anakin doesn’t say anything else. He just finishes whatever he’s writing, sets his pen aside, then looks up at his son.

“I— Are you  _ sure?” _ Luke asks. “I just mean— Mom and Leia are usually better with this sort of thing. Not that you’re bad at it! You’re great!”

“You’re going to hurt yourself,” Anakin deadpans. He shuffles his papers into a stack and sets them aside. He’s a robotics technician, which makes  _ so _ much more sense to Luke, even if he’s better at the mechanical side of things as opposed to the robotics side of things. Mechanics come easy to him, which is why he’s working at the garage in town to put himself through school for early childhood education, which is  _ why  _ he needs advice in the first place. The garage part, not the school part.

“It’s just— I don’t know, it’s kind of dumb,” Luke says. He comes in anyways, because Anakin’s clearly giving him more attention than he’d expected when he came in looking for Padme. “It’s not that important, anyways.”

“I don’t mind,” Anakin assures him. “I could use a break.” He gets up from his desk and abandons his work, going to the bookshelf near the corner. Luke looks his father’s office over, then picks one of his overstuffed armchairs and folds himself up into it, legs crossed under his body. When Anakin joins him, he sits right next to him instead of returning to his desk.

It takes a minute, of the two of them looking at each other and waiting for the other one to start, before Luke laughs nervously and says, “It’s  _ really _ stupid.”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” Anakin tells him. Luke looks down at his hands in his lap, lightly scratching over his right palm with one of the prosthetic fingertips on his left hand.

Luke sighs, then says, “I kind of have a crush on someone at the garage and I don’t know what to do about it.”

Anakin doesn’t answer right away. When Luke looks up, his brow is furrowed, but he’s still looking directly at Luke like he’s trying to puzzle him out. 

“Well, I mean, first of all, you’re almost twenty-two, I don’t think it’s a crush anymore,” Anakin says. Luke huffs a laugh, looking back down at his hands again. “I think that just means you’re into someone.”

_ “Dad,”  _ Luke whines, “I don’t— I’m not  _ into—” _

“Second of all,” Anakin cuts him off, and Luke tips his head back into the armchair, groaning. “There aren’t that many people at the garage, Luke. It’s Han or it’s Mara. Or— I suppose it could be Mace, but you never—”

“God, no!” Luke interrupts. “No, no, I’m not—  _ Dad.” _

“Well, I don’t know,” Anakin replies. Luke glares up at him again, embarrassed now, but Anakin’s just smiling at him. “I’m just going to take a shot in the dark here and guess that it’s Han, since he’s constantly hanging around here.”

“He likes Leia,” Luke grumbles, jabbing at his palm again. “I just don’t know what to do to get over him.”

“Get over him?” Anakin echoes. “Luke, he’s friends with you and your sister, but I don’t think he hangs around here just for her.”

“Of course he does,” Luke says. “He’s had a crush on her since we were in high school, he said so.”

Anakin’s quiet again, for long enough that Luke has to look up at him. This time, Anakin’s just staring at him with an incredulous look on his face.

“Did he tell you that?” Anakin asks.

“Yeah.”

“In high school or recently?” Anakin continues. Luke frowns.

“In— I mean, he said it in high school, but I figured—” Luke starts, but then stops. His face heats up, and he says, “He never told me if he got over her, though!”

“Leia’s been going to school in Cambridge for three years, Luke,” Anakin points out. “Han’s here more often than she is.”

“Because…” Luke trails off. He frowns down at his hands, chewing on his bottom lip for a second before he says, “I— We’ve been friends for years. He’s my friend.”

“I had a friend like him when I was your age,” Anakin tells him. Luke leans his head against the back of the chair again, watching Anakin as he speaks.

“Did you?” Luke asks.

“I did,” Anakin says. “Obi-Wan.”

“Uncle  _ Ben?”  _ Luke laughs. “Dad, that doesn’t count.”

“Luke, listen to me,” Anakin tells him. Luke stops laughing, but he’s still smiling when he looks to Anakin again. “Obi-Wan was to me what Han is to you. Do you get what I mean?”

Luke stares at him. He opens his mouth, then closes it, the smile slipping off his face. “I— Oh. Wh— But, Mom—”

“Things ended up the way they ended up,” Anakin cuts him off. Luke wants to ask more, but he wonders if this is one of those things that’ll get explained to him when he’s, like, thirty, like how they told Leia about their grandmother before they told him because she’s better at processing stuff than he is, or something. Anakin doesn’t give him space to push, anyways; he just keeps talking and says, “I don’t want you to miss any opportunities or have any regrets in your life, Luke. I want you to do what makes you happy.”

Luke nods, biting hard enough into his lower lip that he can taste copper. Anakin reaches out and takes his hand. “I  _ am  _ happy, Dad.”

“Oh, don’t be so soft,” Anakin teases him as he squeezes Luke’s hand. Luke feels himself blush again; he pulls his legs up so he can bury his burning face in his knees. “I don’t know what your mother would’ve told you to do, but I think you should tell him.”

“She’d probably tell me to think about what I want,” Luke mumbles into his legs, his heart pounding as he thinks about the actual reality of telling Han how he feels. “And Leia would probably say that we’re both being idiots and we should get our heads out of our asses.”

“That sounds about right,” Anakin says. “But that’s just what other people think. What do  _ you  _ think?”

Luke looks at his hand tangled with his father’s, and he sighs. He doesn’t even really need to think about it, because he knows exactly what he wants, but he feels like he should give it more time.

In the end, he doesn’t.

“I think I’m a little bit in love with him,” Luke admits, turning to hide his face in his legs again. “I think I want to tell him.”

Anakin squeezes his hand again before releasing him. Luke takes a second, catching his breath so he doesn’t burst into overemotional tears. The armchair shifts slightly as Anakin’s weight settles on the arm of the seat. Luke looks up just as Anakin puts his arm around him and tugs him into his chest.

“Dad?” Luke asks. Anakin rubs his back.

“Just go with it,” Anakin tells him. Luke huffs a laugh, but he turns fully and wraps his own arms around his father, shutting his eyes as he turns his face into his sweater. He feels Anakin bury his face in his hair and kiss the crown of his head before he straightens up again, tipping Luke’s chin up to look him in the eye.

“You don’t think it’s stupid?” Luke asks, red-faced and teary-eyed, excited and terrified. He just wants Anakin to tell him it’s all going to be okay, even if he  _ is  _ an adult now, and his dad  _ is _ forty-four years old, and they are  _ both _ sort of a mess without Padme or Leia around.

“I don’t think it’s stupid at all,” Anakin assures him. He hugs Luke again, then says, “Do what makes you happy, Luke. Whatever that is.”

Luke nods, pulling back and wiping at his face with his sleeve before he gets up. Anakin gets up, too, clapping him on the shoulder, which feels almost hilariously strange after they’d just hugged for so long.

“You’re a good kid,” Anakin says. Luke’s face flushes again. “Don’t doubt yourself so much.”

Luke shrugs, brushing him off, but Anakin hugs him again. Luke sighs, acting put-upon, but Anakin just lightly cuffs him on the side of the head until Luke laughs and hugs him back.

“Be back before dinner,” Anakin tells him, as he releases him again. 

“Why?”

“Because I’m horrible at keeping secrets and I  _ know  _ I’m going to tell your mom as soon as she gets home,” Anakin says.

“Fucking—  _ Dad,”  _ Luke admonishes, checking his watch frantically.

“I think I can make it to dinner, but you better be quick,” Anakin warns him, grinning. Luke shoves at him, but he makes to leave, hesitating in the doorway to Anakin’s office.

“Thanks, Dad,” Luke says. Anakin waves him off.

“Bring Han here for dinner,” Anakin tells him. “Your sister’s supposed to be here, too. It’ll be nice, and you can tell them all about it.”

Leia’s semi-aware of his crush, and Padme’s  _ very  _ aware of it, but Luke grins a little at the idea of surprising them. He’s not entirely sure how Han is going to respond, and it seems like Anakin is more confident than he is in how this is going to turn out, but he’s getting so excited that he doesn’t really care anymore about potentially bad outcomes. He’s just feverishly optimistic now.

“Okay,” Luke agrees eagerly. “Bye, Dad!”

Anakin calls a goodbye to him, too, but Luke’s already jogging down the hall, grabbing his sneakers and the keys to his motorcycle. He almost trips shoving his feet into his shoes, but he manages to stay upright until he’s outside and hopping on his bike, roaring down the street without hesitation. He doesn’t want to stop and overthink things, because then he thinks he might think twice and doubt himself all over again.

His father told him not to doubt himself, and so he pushes the thoughts out of his head and just rides. The garage isn’t that far, and Luke’s glad for it. The short distance gives him less time to dwell on doubt.

Luke almost drops his motorcycle when he stops it, but he manages to keep it upright against the wall outside by Han’s Countach. Shoving in through the side door, he shouts, “Han?”

“He’s in the back, Jesus Christ,” Mara calls back to him. “Do you—”

“Sorry, hold on, I’ll be back out in a sec,” Luke says, jogging past her to shove his way through the door into the back of the garage. Han’s halfway underneath someone’s old orange Chevette when Luke bangs his way in.

“Who the fuck—” Han spits, sliding his way out and sitting up to see Luke sitting there. He grabs a rag off the ground and wipes at his face and hands as he asks, “What the fuck’s lit a fire under  _ your  _ ass?”

“Han, I need to tell you something,” Luke says urgently. Han tosses the rag away and heaves himself to his feet, dusting himself off and spreading his arms to Luke.

“Alright, lay it on me, kid,” Han says. Luke inhales deeply, shutting his eyes for a second to ground himself before he looks at Han again.

“I’m in love with you and I think we should go on a date,” Luke tells him, all in a rush. Han stares at him, unmoving, hands still slightly spread. Luke’s heart speeds up even further, starting to panic that he’s made the complete wrong decision here. “I— Han? Would you—”

“You’re just gonna throw that at me without so much as a ‘hi, how are ya?’” Han demands incredulously. Luke swallows, face burning as Han groans and rubs at his face. “Jesus, Luke.  _ Jesus  _ Christ.”

“I’m sorry,” Luke says quickly. “I didn’t— I shouldn’t’ve, I just— My dad—”

“No, shut up, hold on,” Han interrupts him. He looks at Luke, and Luke looks away. In the next moment, Han steps up to him and puts a hand on his chin, turning his face back to him. “Say it again. At a speed I can understand this time.”

“I think we should go on a date,” Luke tries again. Han shakes his head, and Luke can feel himself shaking a little. Han lets him go, but Luke doesn’t move, the two of them only an inch apart.

“What was the rest of it?” Han asks. “The first part.”

“I… Han, I don’t want to—”

“Say it,” Han tells him. Luke’s eyes flick up to meet Han’s, and he’s comforted all over again but what he finds there.

“I’m in love with you,” Luke tells him, his voice dropping soft and quiet into the small distance between them. Han smiles and cups Luke’s face in his hands, stepping closer into his space until their chests touch, even though Luke has to tip his head back pretty far to keep eye contact with him.

Han looks like he’s about to say something, but then his attention falls to Luke’s mouth and he drops his head down instead, kissing him hard enough that Luke gasps into it, his hand fisting up in Han’s thin t-shirt as he surges up onto the balls of his feet to kiss him back.

When Han releases him, Luke inhales sharply, trying to catch his breath as Han pushes their foreheads together and grins before kissing him again, then again, Luke gasping in between each kiss as he tries to ground himself. He’s lightheaded and dizzy and  _ thrilled,  _ and when Han breaks the kiss again to hold him close, one of his big hands cradling the back of his head as he hugs him and kisses the shell of his ear.

“I love you, too,” Han says.

“Not Leia?” Luke asks. Han pulls back as Luke winces, and he says, “I’m— Pretend I didn’t—”

“No, not  _ Leia,”  _ Han answers incredulously. “What, do you see me driving up to Cambridge to hang around with  _ Leia  _ all the time?”

“No, but—”

“‘No, but’ nothing,” Han cuts him off. He cradles Luke’s face in his hands again and says, “Sorry, I’m only interested in one of the Skywalkers.”

Luke grins, and he bounces once before pushing up again to kiss Han, grabbing at the collar of his t-shirt to haul him down. Han goes, smiling into Luke’s mouth as he kisses him. When he pulls back, Luke remembers to ask, “Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?”

“With your—”

“Yeah, my parents and Leia,” Luke says. “I kinda— I asked my dad for advice and he told me I should invite you over.”

“You asked your  _ dad  _ for advice?” Han asks incredulously. Luke nods, and Han studies his face for a second before asking, “About  _ me?” _

“Shut up,” Luke snaps without heat, flushing. He looks away, but Han turns his face back so they can make eye contact again.

“I’ll have to thank him,” Han says. Luke lets him kiss him again, sighing into it. When Han pulls back, he says, “Next time, though, you can just ask me.”

Luke starts to protest, but Han’s kissing him again before he can speak, and it’s not long before he forgets what he was going to say anyways. 

**Author's Note:**

> You can (and should!) come chat with me on Twitter at [@nicolelianesolo](https://twitter.com/nicolelianesolo) and/or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


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